Token won't populate - keeps appearing as text

[Anonymous]

We used a Marketo email template to create our email and for some reason, the first token we insert in what would be an email signature line will not populate. It continues to display as text so for example we see this: {{lead.Lead Owner First Name:default=Sales}}. It doesn't matter what token we use; as long as it is the first token showing, it will not populate yet the remainder of the signature line will. We tried to troubleshoot with the customer service people but they haven't been able to determine the issue. Has anyone else encountered this? We are trying not to need to use a totally new email template so if anyone has suggestions of what to look for, that would be great!

Thanks!!

[Josh_Hill13]

did you check the underlying code?

[Anonymous]

I'm not a person who codes, and we didn't code the email--the email template is a Marketo "Breaking News 2.0" template that came with the program. What would I be looking for?

[SanfordWhiteman]

Are you testing this with a real email, or with a Send Sample, or in lead-specific Preview?

[Anonymous]

We've tested a real email and lead-specific preview. They all display the first token as text. It's the strangest thing since I can put the same exact token next to it and the second one will populate but the first will continue to show as text.

[SanfordWhiteman]

What is the character directly before the signature line?  Show the exact HTML if you can.

[Anonymous]

When we look in the HTML source editor for the free text box, this is what we see:

<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #f6f6f6; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">{{lead.Lead Owner First Name:default=Sales}} </span>{{lead.Lead Owner Last Name:default=Team}}</span><br /></div>

<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">{{lead.Lead Owner Job Title:default=Sales}}</span></div>

<div><span style="font-size: 14px;">Phone: {{lead.Lead Owner Phone Number:default=}}</span></div>

<div><span style="font-size: 14px;">{{lead.Lead Owner Email Address:default=}}</span></div>

[Trevor_Parsell]

Hey Nacole,

I've seen issues arise from all the additional code added by the Marketo WYSIWYG editor. Can you try using this code instead and see if it works:

<div style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">

{{lead.Lead Owner First Name:default=Sales}} {{lead.Lead Owner Last Name:default=Team}}<br/>

{{lead.Lead Owner Job Title:default=Sales}}<br/>

{{lead.Lead Owner Phone Number:default=}}<br/>

{{lead.Lead Owner Email Address:default=}}<br/>

</div>

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

After escalating the issue within Marketo, it appears that they have an issue with their templates whenever they refer to the tokens as being within {{}}. If you actually have the brackets typed in the body of your email/landing page in that manner, the first token following that will not populate. If you want to refer to the tokens as being within brackets, only use {} so the system does not get confused. I'm not sure why this isn't a more widespread answer since it seems it happens a lot, but that should correct it. I hope that helps anyone else with this issue!